57

ZBORNK FILOZOFICKEJ FAKULTY UNIVERZITY KOMENSKHO

RONK XXXIII XXXIV GRAECOLATINA ET ORIENTALIA BRATISLAVA 2012






Figurative usages of the verb and adjective
in the New Testament health conditions



Jozefa ARTIMOV, Brno


Researching translation techniques employed to gap the language-and-
culture barrier imposed by culture-specific concepts/items
1
one cannot escape
lexemes which we can categorize as physiological processes and states name-
ly sickness, disease, and weakness. The basic source for collecting the study
material was the Louw & Nida lexicon
2
based on semantic domains. Their list
of 42 terms includes:

(1) General expressions which do not refer to any particular disease: -
, , , , / etc.

(2) Specific expressions perceived as of not strictly technical nature: -
, /; or names of disabilities: , , ,
, etc.
3



1
Term culture specific item refers to a definition by Javier Franco AIXEL: Culture specific
items in translation. In: Translation, Power, Subversion. R. lvarez M. C.-A. Vidal (Eds.).
Clevendon Philadelphia Adelaide: Multilingual Matters Ltd. 1996, p. 58: Culture specific
items are textually actualized items whose function and connotations in a source text involve
a translation problem in their transference to a target text, whenever this problem is a product
of the non-existence of the referred item or of its different intertextual status in the cultural
system of the readers of the target text.

2
Johannes Petrus LOUW Eugne Albert NIDA: Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament
based on semantic domains. 3rd ed. rev. New York: United Bible Societies 1989, 2 Vols.

3
In this respect Wynns suggestions on translating disabilities are of some value; cf. Kerry H.
WYNN: Disability in Bible Translation. The Bible Translator 52/2001, Nr. 4, pp. 402 414.

58
(3) Terms often perceived as technical: / / , -
/, /, , , -
.

Judging the obtained corpus of lexical items from a translation point of
view, initially only expressions termed here as technical were thought to pose a
translation problem, as they require additional interpretative effort from both
the translator and the target language receptor. Nevertheless, when compiling
accessible study material, a group of lexical units that would not typically be
perceived as a technical medical vocabulary, yet still signify physiological
processes and states, was also considered to be worthy of closer inspection,
among them various usages of verb and adjective .
In the translation practice it is widely believed that in these cases not much
space is left for the translator. Basically he is either advised to reproduce the
concepts of the ancient world and risk that for many modern readers they
would seem odd, old fashioned, that they attract unnecessary attention, or even
convey false impression in other words the translator is urged to use fo-
reignizing strategies; or, he can use domesticating strategies and replace such
concepts with our modern categories of thought. Then he would risk, that the
meaning of the concept is narrowed down possible connotations are lost and in
the worst cases the original meaning is disrupted. In practice, the two basic
approaches are however not so strictly separated and there are definitely seve-
ral levels of literalness or free rendering of the source text.
These will be illustrated on four examples of usages of verb and
adjective as found in the corpus of New Testament texts. Before going
further, particular usages of these lexical items shall be discussed; the dictio-
nary entries and especially different contexts in which this verb and its adjec-
tive are used in the figurative meaning will be revisited and a few convenient
collocations quoted.

XRAIN AND XROS IN DICTIONARY ENTRIES
The entries in all lexicons
4
commonly used in the field suggest that verb
and adjective are used literally as well as figuratively in abun-


4
We work with all lexicons included in Bibleworks 8.0: LOUW NIDA, op. cit. (note 2);
BDAG = Frederick William DANKER Walter BAUER: A Greek-English lexicon of the New
Testament and other early Christian literature. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press 2000;

59
dance, and different meanings are testified on material from the New and Old
Testament Greek (Septuagint), but also from extra-biblical sources. What lite-
rally dries or becomes dry are above all:
(1) Bodies of water and earth (Red) sea ([] ), brook (-
), river (), trench (), stream (); or earth ( ,
); places and regions ();
(2) Vegetation and parts of plants vegetation (), fig tree (),
grass/hay (/), grapevine (), corn (); wood/tree (-
), branch (), root (), leaf ();
(3) Food and its volumes bread (/), cereals (), cheese
(/); measure of content ().

Majority of all other documented usages are figurative extensions of the
meaning and we were interested in those contexts where and are
connected to different parts of body which become somehow dry or deprived of
their natural capabilities.
(1) Incapacity to produce what is expected
5
breasts that are
dried up are unable to produce milk and nurse;
6
dried eyes are
unable to produce tears; /
7
unfertile or miscarrying womb is
unable to give birth to a an offspring;
(2) Incapacity to control the movement of hands partial or complete, but
only temporary incapability: ... [ ] .

FRIBERG = Timothy FRIBERG Barbara FRIBERG Neva F. MILLER: Analytical Lexicon of
the New Testament. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker 2000; THAYER = Greek-English lexicon
of the New Testament (originally Grimms Wilkes Clavis Novi Testamenti). J. H. THAYER
(Transl., rev. and enl.). Edinburgh: T. and T. Clark 1908; LSJ = Henry George LIDDELL
Robert SCOTT: A Greek-English lexicon. Revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry
Stuart JONES. Oxford: Clarendon Press 1968; PREUSCHEN = Erwin PREUSCHEN: Griechisch-
deutsches Taschenwrterbuch zum Neuen Testament. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter 2005; M & M
= James Hope MOULTON George MILLIGAN: The vocabulary of the Greek Testament
illustrated from the papyri and other non-literary sources. London: Hodder-Stoughton 1930;
TDNT = Gerhard KITTEL Gerhard FRIEDRICH: Theological dictionary of the New Testament.
G. W. BROMILEY (Transl. et ed.). Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans 1964 1974, 10 Vols.

5
Hosea 9:14 (Greek text according to Bibleworks 8.0).

6
Aeschylus, Septem contra Thebas 696.

7
Hippocrates, Aphorisms 2, 20. W. H. S. JONES (Transl.). London: Harvard University Press
1953, Vol. IV, p. 112.

60

8
; similarly in LXX:
[]
[] -

9
;
(3) Incapacity to control (the movement of) hands partial or complete but
apparently long term incapability, which is believed to be irreversible; either
one of the extremities is affected: ( )
10
; half of the
body:
11
; or body as a whole:
12
;
(4) Unhealthiness
13
while fat bones signify a healthy
body
14
, dry bones imply health problem, lifelessness;
15
withered,
lean (?), body wasted with sorrow;
(5) Coined medical expressions dry cough,
dry fewer, dry tongue as a result of fever or thirst.

In the New Testament texts verb and adjective are used in
four different contexts to describe physiological processes and states. In the
following text all four contexts will be inspected and commented from a trans-
lation point of view.

HAEMORRHAGING WOMAN
The least problematic from a translation point of view is the case of a
haemorrhaging woman in Mark 5:25 34. Despite the difficulties connected to
the rendition of the womans health condition ( )
16
, the verb
does not pose a particular translation problem here. The euphemistic


8
Testamentum Symeonis de Invidia II/12. In: Spicilegium SS. Patrum ut et haereticorum, seculi
post Christum natum I III, J. A. GRABE (Ed.). Oxoniae: E Theatro Sheldoniano 1698, Vol. 1, p. 153.

9
1 Kings 13:4 and 6.

10
Matthew 12:10, Mark 3:1, Luke 6:6.

11
Lucian Works, Toxaris, or on Friendship. A. M. HARMON (Ed.). Harvard University Press:
London 1936, Vol. 5, p. 142ff.

12
John 5:3.

13
Proverbs 17:22.

14
Cf. Proverbs 3:8; 15:30 or 16:24.

15
Euripides, Electra 239.

16
For discussion on the womans disease, cf. Marla J. SELVIDGE: Mark 5:25 34 and Leviticus
15:19 20: a reaction to restrictive purity regulations. Journal of Biblical Literature 103,
1984, Nr. 4, pp. 619 626.

61
references to womans menstruation apparently reflect Jewish purity system.
The most commonly, biblical authors tend to be intentionally unclear or indi-
rect when speaking about blemished people or about the cause of their social
and ritual exclusion. Selvidge (1984: 619) observes that no major Greek writers
refer to menstruation using nouns (spring) or (flow) with genitive
and links these two examples to the LXX usage, where these expre-
ssions are found in the Book of Leviticus predominantly.
A woman from the New Testament story is described as being subject to the
bleeding for an extensive period of time
(Mark 5:25), and despite treatment by physicians she is only healed when she
touches Jesus clothes. Her suffering is stopped immediately when the source
from which the blood springs dries up:
(Mark 5:29). The verb
is here used to refer to the flow of liquid that literally dries up and thus
what is figurative here is not the verb itself but the euphemistic expression for
an abnormal gynaecological condition.
From a translation point of view, what gives us sufficient clues to translate
the verb successfully here is a combination of the broader context in which it is
used and tendency to harmonize synoptic parallels (paraphrased account of
Luke replaces the verb by the verb , Luke 8:44). Therefore, -
is frequently rendered using verbs as stop, cease, stanch (Slovak presta,
zastavi sa, usta) even in some more form-oriented versions (Revised Stan-
dard Version, Slovak Catholic version).

MAN WITH A DRY HAND
As a more challenging task for the translator we perceive the case of
in Matthew 12:10 and following verses and in parallel accounts by Mark
and Luke. In all three instances the condition of a man is described almost
identically: (Matthew 12:10); -
(Mark 3:1); (Luke 6:6).
Variations that could eventually narrow the meaning are of a minor signi-
ficance. The perfect passive participle is sometimes argued to be a term of
technical nature used predominantly by physicians, but evidence is far from
conclusive
17
, and we are cautious also when accepting the perfect passive par-
ticiple here to be a proof that a mans condition is not congenital but acquired.


17
Henry J. CADBURY: Lexical notes on Luke-Acts : II. Recent arguments for medical language.

62
Further, the Gospel of Luke specifies that the affected hand is the right hand,
but the detail is of no value from diagnostic point of view. The detail men-
tioned in Lukes account is commonly being ascribed to the alleged medical
education of the author of this Gospel, but it would be safer to interpret it as an
extra emphasis on the importance of hands and as an accentuation of the despe-
rate condition of the unfortunate man
18
, or just read it as an symbol of power
and strength. The same is probably heightened in the variant reading of Gospels
of Nazarenes and Ebionites mentioned by Jerome
19
In Evangelio, quo utuntur
Nazaraeni et Ebionitae, [...] homo iste, qui aridam habet manum, caementarius
scribitur. Istius modi vocibus auxilium precans: Caementarius eram, manibus
victum quaeritans. Precor te, Iesu, ut mihi restituas sanitatem, ne turpiter men-
dicem cibos.
As accounts in synoptic Gospels offer no details instrumental to the suc-
cessful specification or even identification of the condition or narrowing of the
meaning; and, the collocation is not among typical collocations in
biblical or extra-biblical evidence, we assume that what we deal here with is
not a coined medical condition, but a figurative extension of the literal mea-
ning, some sort of euphemistic expression or just an native Greek expression of
non-technical nature. Both the Greek adjective and perfect passive par-
ticiple allow for quite broad interpretation of the mans condition,
and taking into account possible movement restrictions and no specification
whether the hands incapability is temporary or permanent; virtually, here we
have to deal with anything from that of congenital handicap to deformity
caused by trauma or disease.
The majority of commonly used Greek lexicons conjecture in these three
parallel accounts on paralysis, but they also underline different aspects of the
hands affection and the meaning remains broad
20
: Louw & Nida (23.173) and
BDAG (5170) lay stress on the hands immobility; FRIBERG (19262) on its
uselessness; in THAYER (3678) the hand is just deprived of a natural moisture;
in LSJ (39159) as well as in PREUSCHEN (3652) it is lean and parched.
Hesseling (1908: 146) points out that semantically we should probably look for

Journal of biblical literature 45, 1926, Nr. 1/2, p. 204ff.

18
Affected hand would be perceived as a physical flaw, cf. Leviticus 21:16 20.

19
Hieronymus, Commentariorum in Matheum libri IV. D. HURST M. ADRIAEN (Eds.). CCSL
77, Turnholti: Brepols 1969, II, 12, 13, p. 90.

20
Numbers in brackets signify the number attached to the lexical item in the quoted source as it
appears within Bibleworks8 software, for abbreviations of particular lexicons cf. note 4.

63
a connection between dried branches of trees and hands, and inserts that
in the New Testament refers either to the wasted, weakened or decayed hand or
alternatively to the whole body as in the case of John 5:3
21
.
Since for paralysis there is a specific and more technical term in the New
Testament Greek or one is tended to presume
that there would be at least the slight shift in the meaning between different
expressions. Wettstein offers here a cross-reference to 1 Kings 13:4 and 6, and
the Hebrew root ybsh
22
. As we observed, the Septuagint substitutes a
Hebrew root ybsh quite systematically with passive forms of the Greek
verb or the adjective . Its primary meaning is to be or become
dry losing moisture but its usage in 1 Kings 13:4 and 6 is figurative:


. From the situational context it is possible to
deduce that while withering a King Jeroboams hand probably becomes
rigid, stiff and motionless, and he looses control of it.
Similar, but not so definite context with same Hebrew root is found in
Zechariach 11:17, where both eye and hand loose their natural capabilities
completely:


. However, while we are positive that the eye
becomes blind here, it is not so straightforward what happens when it comes to
the arm. Most likely when drying completely up, the hand becomes useless,
deprived of its former strength and capability to work and move.
Absolute majority of translations of Matthew 12:10; Mark 3:1; Luke 6:6 and
following verses still opt for classical equivalents here dry or dried, withered
(Roheks version, Slovak Protestant version, Slovak Catholic version and par-
tially also Slovak Ecumenical version; King James Version, New King James
Version, Revised Standard Version etc.). We suggest that the emphasis here could
be shifted from anything that refers either to the primary meaning of dry-ness
or enforces such health condition which would imply that a hand is stunted
23
or


21
Dirk Christiaan HESSELING: , In: Sertum nabericum. S. A. Naber J. J. Hartman (Eds.).
Lugdunum Batavorum: Brill 1908, pp. 145 156.

22
Johann Jacob WETTSTEIN: Novum Testamentum Graecum. Amsterdam: ex officina Domme-
riana 1751, Vol. 1, p. 388, n. 10.

23
Fitzmyer in Luke 6:6, quite extraordinarily, translates stunted by which he means atrophied

64
dead
24
, because there is lack of evidence to assume such a devastating condi-
tion of the hand.
Equivalents that express complete paralysis seem to be more reasonable, but
strictly speaking, the mans hand, even though affected, is still able to stretch in
all three parallel versions (Matthew 12:13; Mark 3:5; Luke 6:10):
.
. Therefore, if the condition in the target language is rendered in a way
that suggests total movement restriction, the order of events could seem unli-
kely. Moreover, we think that if the meaning of the adjective and forms
of the verb could be distinguished from those of or -
it would also be useful for the two following usages. Equivalents that
express rigidity, weakness and stiffness or loose of control appear to be the
most reasonable here and seem to be better related to the Old Testament root
ybsh. One of the desirable translation solutions is found in two occurrences
(Matthew 12:10 and ff.; Mark 3:1 and ff.) in Slovak free version limp (Slo-
vak bezvldny, nevldny).

POSSESSED BOY
In Mark 9:18 a passive verbal form is used in what is believed by
many
25
to be a description of an epileptic seizure. The case of a lunatic or
moonstruck boy is described in all three synoptic Gospels differently
26
, with
Mark being the most abundant in details. Among several typical symptoms
such as foaming or gnashing of teeth, muscular rigidity is also mentioned in
medical literature. Wilkinson
27
, while attempting to equate with
epilepsy, comments also on the verb : The meaning of wasting is

in its growth; unfortunately he does not give further explanation to such translation choice;
cf. Joseph A. FITZMYER: The Gospel according to Luke (The Anchor Bible series). Garden
City New York: Doubleday 1981, Vol. 28, p. 604.

24
Bible in Basic English; English text as it appears within Bibleworks8 software.

25
The rendering epileptic for the Greek verb was introduced by Revised Standard
version in 1881 for the first time on the ground of evidence coming from Byzantine physi-
cian Leo Philosophus, nevertheless, it was never widely accepted by form-oriented versions.;
cf. Jozefa ARTIMOV: Diseases and health conditions of the New Testament texts as a trans-
lation problem: the case of a lunatic boy revisited. In: Fragmenty z dejn medicny, farmcie a
veterinrnej medicny. I. Vojtekov V. Ozorovsk (Eds.). Kancelria WHO na Slovensku:
Bratislava 2012, p. 13.

26
Matthew 17:14 20, Mark 9:14 29, Luke 9:37 43.

27
John WILKINSON: The case of the epileptic boy. The Expository Times 79, 1967, Nr. 2, p. 42.

65
inappropriate here for epilepsy does not usually interfere with nutrition of its
victims. It seems preferable to extend the meaning to include the result of the
wasting, namely lack of movement, and so understand the verb as meaning that
the boy becomes completely exhausted and motionless after his convulsion.
Even if we have to be cautious when introducing modern ideas about sick-
ness and physiological states into the world of Scriptures, we favour here
Wilkinsons interpretation against typical translation solutions of form-oriented
Bible versions. Languishing (Slovak chradn) or withering away (Slovak
schn) in this context seem to be much more unnatural than rigidity or stiff-
ness, and it is a less preferred translation solution even in form-oriented English
versions (Revised Standard Version, New International Version he becomes
rigid, stiff).
We propose that the state of the boy after an epileptic seizure could be
rather seen as a similar rigidity, stiffness and motionlessness that was observed
when speaking of King Jeroboams hand or of the hand of the nameless man in
Matthew 12:10 and parallel accounts. BDAG (5169) quotes here another simi-
lar phrase from Theocritus
28
(lit. stiff with fright, scared
stiff). Hesseling (1908: 147) understands this rigidity as a secondary derivation
of the meaning of adjective and quotes two expressions in which rigid
should be understood as inanimate, spiritless or simply dead:
and (cf. Spanish quedar seco). Slovak free translation
prefers
29
rigidity (Slovak cel zmeravie) against coined terms he languishes, he
withers away (chradne, schne) found in all other Slovak Bible versions.

HEALED ON THE SABBATH
The last context where the adjective is used figuratively to denote a
physiological condition is John 5:3. Here, the adjective stands alongside other
health conditions: , , , . The usage


28
Theocritus, Idylls 24, 61.

29
For the Slovak free translation see Hope for all (= Nov Zkon, Ndej pre kadho. Druh
as Svtho psma Biblie v modernom jazyku. Denmark: International Bible Society &
Creativpress 1993; for the rest of Bible versions see: Slovak Protestant version (= Biblia.
Psmo Svt Starej a Novej Zmluvy. Liptovsk Mikul: Tranoscius 1984); Slovak Catholic
version (= Svt Psmo Starho a Novho Zkona. Trnava: Spolok Svtho Vojtecha 2004);
Slovak Ecumenical version (= Psmo Svt. Nov Zmluva a almy. Slovensk Ekumenick
preklad. Bansk Bystrica: Slovensk Biblick Spolonos 1995), Version by Rohek (= J.
ROHEK: Nov Zkon naeho Pna a Spasitea Jeia Krista. Praha: Biblick spolonos
Britick a zahranin 1937).

66
has no parallel in other Gospels, and cross-references point again to 1 Kings
13:4 or Matthew 12:10. Similar enumerations of different diseases or disabili-
ties are to be found in many places in the Old and New Testament texts. The
most typical ones are Matthew 4:24, 15:30 and Luke 7:22, 14:13. Such lists
almost always mention a parallel pair of blind, , and lame, . In the
two occasions Matthew 4:24 and Acts 8:7 paralytics, , are
mentioned as well.
The adjective is found in such context only in John and it is also the
only occurrence of within whole Gospel of John. From our point of view
in this context would not specify any particular malady, but could refer
to those who are greatly affected by their disease and probably almost motion-
less. Further details in the story may be seen as supportive to such an interpre-
tation. Man, who becomes the main figure in the further text, has a health
problem that is persisting for a long period of time:
[] (John 5:5) and he is
unable to act quickly when needed ,
,
. (John 5:7)
Meaning-oriented versions usually replace literalistic and vague expressions
withered/wasted (Slovak vyschl, vychradl, vychradnut), with the more ex-
pressive term paralytics, but we perceive such replacement as unnecessary.
Equivalent paralytic here may be also based on variant reading in the Western
text that adds after
30
.

From a fairly abundant lexis denoting physiological processes and states in
the New Testament texts, only a few terms could be labelled as technical me-
dical lexis. Even in such cases the identification of disease in terms of precise
medical diagnosis is not only unfeasible, but also not desirable as we would
hardly ever be able to know the true nature of most of the medically related
conditions mentioned in this corpus of texts. The ordinary language of the
writers of the New Testament makes the use of any precise terms that suggest
our modern medical understanding inappropriate. Ferngren and Amundsen in
this context write: Even when the vocabulary becomes more specific, if it is
symptomatic or rather pathological, it nevertheless must be understood more


30
Roger Lee OMANSON: A textual guide to the Greek New Testament. Stuttgart: German Bible
Society 2006, p. 174.

67
phenomenologically than scientifically. And when the vocabulary becomes
precise in its pathological specificity, it is always an expression of a particular
nosology or medical paradigm that may have little meaning in a different cul-
ture or may inadvertently convey the impression of a different pathological
state.
31
This is much more applicable in cases where the lexis is vague and im-
precise.
Form-oriented translations aim to preserve as many parts of the source text
as possible and many times treat the lexis concordantly. In such versions the
terms employed for different physiological conditions when translated literally
may sound unnatural or even misleading (e. g. withering/drying in Mark 9:18).
Another problem with such literalistic names of different health conditions is
that in the target language such expressions or phrases are perceived as marked
or uncommon collocations. While being intuitively comprehensible, they still
alert a perceptive reader that there maybe something wrong with the text or its
rendering in the target language.
On the other hand, meaning-oriented translations are in an effort to convey
as much meaning as possible, sometimes too interpretative and too fast with
equating ancient health conditions to our modern medical paradigms. These
translation solutions often sound too technical in the ancient biblical text.
The New Testament health conditions that contain adjective or verb
are figurative extensions of the primary meaning. Except for the usage
in Mark 5:29, we are confident enough that they should be translated in a way
that emphasizes more rigidity or stiffness than dryness and emaciation in lan-
guages where collocation dry with different parts of body or body as a whole
is not a typical one. Also, they do not have to be necessarily substituted by
terms suggesting paralysis as it is a specific lexical item within the New Testa-
ment corpus with its own range of meaning. Nevertheless, the final decision on
how to treat this kind of lexis should be probably spelled out in the skopos of
the particular Bible translation project, which would be under usual circum-
stances defined before the translation work itself.






31
Gary B. FERNGREN Darrel W. AMUNDSEN: Disease and disease causality in the New Testa-
ment. In: Aufstieg und Niedergang der Rmischen Welt. W. Haase (Ed.). Berlin New York:
Walter de Gruyter 1996, Part II, Vol. 37, 3, p. 2956.

68
R e s u m
Obrazn pouitie slovesa a adjektva v Novej zmluve
Jozefa ARTIMOV, Koice

Novozmluvn autori pouvaj na opis rozlinch fyziologickch procesov a stavov
ben hovorov lexiku, ktor sa v mnohch prpadoch vymyk naim snahm o presn
medicnsku interpretciu. Tak s i prpady pouitia adjektva (such, vyschnut,
vyprahnut) a slovesa (vyschn, vysui sa). V kadom kontexte (Mk 5,29;
Mt 12,10; Mk 9,18, Jn 5,30), kde slia na opis chorobnch stavov, ide o obrazn
pouitie. Okrem prpadu, ktor opisuje Marek 5,9 ( je pouit v spojen s pato-
logickm krvcanm vo vzname usta, zastavi sa), nem slovesn i adjektvny tvar
vznam such, vyprahnut, zbaven tekutiny/vlhkosti, ale skr znamen tuh, merav,
nevldny, nehybn, nemohci. Spojenia typu mu s vyschnutou rukou (Mt 12,10),
chlapec, ktor poas (epileptickho) zchvatu schne, i chradne (Mk 9,18), a napokon
vyschl i vychradnut nemocn (Jn 5,3) sce nie s plne nezrozumiten, no zrove
vyaduj viac itateovho interpretatvneho silia. Vhodou formlne presnch prekla-
dov je ich konkordann jednota, ktor umouje rchlu orientciu v texte a naznauje
svislos s inmi vskytmi toho istho slova. Je vak otzne, i sa ned naznai aj inm
spsobom ako prenanm netypickch, a tm aj prznakovch kolokci do cieovho
jazyka.